As I typed this column just a year ago, I noted it was snowing heavily. Husband Kit’s journal notes that we had 10 inches of snow on March 20, 2013. This year again we have a nor’easter forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday. And as I type today (Tuesday, March 25, 2014), the sun is shining, but we have had a snow shower and clouds are building in the northeast. Winter weather is still with us.

The weather did not deter friends, family and bargain hunters from filling the Southport Town Hall for the sixth grade Winter Carnival last Saturday evening. Even though there are only three students in the class, all boys, they mustered lots of help in collecting many, many items for the silent auction and ticket bidding. Brenda Tibbetts, Bonnie McKinney, Shelley Burnham, Rebecca Nance and Tim Bennett worked to serve several kinds of homemade soup, rolls and desserts and to help the boys make the evening a success.

Following supper, excitement ran high as names and numbers were called identifying the lucky winners. Kit and I came home with a promise of six pounds of lobsters, vouchers for three sacks of lobster compost, and an hour’s massage, and we were not the biggest winners.

Thanks to all the generous artists, merchants and other individuals who donated items to raise money for the boys’ trip to New York City. The boys and their helpers have raised about $4,000, which, with their service at the Firemen’s Dinner, should allow them to meet their monetary goal. I especially liked the fact that at the beginning of the evening each boy explained what he wanted to do and see in New York City.

We have seen drilling equipment again along Route 238 and on Plummer Road around Decker Cove, marking where the presence of ledge will require extra work to install a year-round water line. I’m told that this work is similar to the advance work done on Cross Road, that is, learning the topography so that judging the bids for the job of laying the pipe can be more precise.

We wish Nora Brewer a speedy recovery and are glad to hear from Sandra Thibault that Nora’s daughter, Amy, is here from Bermuda to help her mother.

Beginning April 19, 2014, the Southport post office lobby will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for our convenience. The window will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. and from 12:15 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. On Saturday the window will be open from 9 a.m. until 11:15 a.m.

A new, delicious item at the Island Store caught my eye: Hummingbird Cupcakes. They are made with pineapple, pecans, bananas and frosted with cream cheese frosting. My mouth is watering as I type.